


to train a monster

by Anonymous



Category: Original Work
Genre: Cages, Collars, Dehumanization, Hand Feeding, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Master/Pet, Other, Rating will change, non-human pets, not shown or spoken about in depth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:28:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28150896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: "Do you do anything with these guys or do you just keep them down here?" He asked Daniel, looking over to him.“The nicer ones sometimes come out during parties if Edward feels like it.” He explained, walking to the next cage over. “Although, that’s generally reserved for more - distinguished guests, if you catch my drift.”
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Kudos: 2
Collections: anonymous





	1. Chapter 1

Johnsey hadn't been a monster hunter for a long time. He knew what he was doing, to say the least, but he didn't have the kind of contacts somebody who'd been in the business for a while would have. At least, that's what he liked to tell himself. 

It was early morning. He was stood in the kitchen by himself, eating cereal, when a letter was rather loudly shoved through his letterbox.   
"That's unusual." He mumbled, mostly to himself, getting up from the rickety old chair to pick up the letter. It was made of rather high-quality paper, and handwritten in crisp, clean handwriting. It was polite and brief, simply requesting his presence for a meeting at some posh estate. Johnsey furrowed his eyebrows and turned the paper over, expecting some kind of joke written on the back, but it seemed entirely genuine. The time of the meeting was about an hour later, so he resolved to tidy himself up a little beforehand.

He picked out the nicest suit he had, which wasn't saying much. Half his clothes had rips or stains in them, but oh well. Occupational hazard, or whatever. Johnsey looked himself over in the mirror, before giving himself a little finger guns motion, and laughing to himself. He brushed his hair enough for it to be presentable, and put it up in a quick ponytail. 

Giving himself more than enough time to get there, he set off. The normally busy streets of London were quiet and desolate, but it was early on a sunday, so it had to be expected. He found his way well enough, and took a moment to marvel at the sheer size of the place. The door was so large he felt almost intimidated as he went to knock. The sound of his fist hitting the heavy wood rang out in the morning quiet, and he waited on the doorstep with bated breath for somebody to let him in.

It took a moment, but soon the door swung open in his face, and a lady with black hair, cropped close to her face, let him in.  
“You’re Mr. Johnson?” She asked, and once he nodded, she stepped aside to let him in. “Edward’s waiting for you in the drawing room.”  
“Thank you.” He stepped inside, shoving his hands in his pockets. She followed him closely, leading him to the drawing room and opening the door for him. He peeked inside before he stepped in, furrowing his eyebrows.

The room was dimly lit, with bookshelves all around the walls. Edward, or who Johnsey assumed was Edward, was sat on one of the plush sofas with his back to the door. He didn’t turn around, but did wave the servant away.  
“Mr. Johnson?” He asked, his honeyed voice loud in the quiet of the house.  
“That’s me!” He called back, voice slightly strained from nervousness. The man chuckled, and beckoned him in. Johnsey nervously made his way towards the sofa, circling around it until he was standing in front of it.

Edward was, admittedly, very pretty. His soft brown hair framed his face nicely, and his blue eyes watched him closely.   
“Sit down, ” He gestured to the armchair across from him, before smiling. “You look rather nervous.”  
“Thank you, sir.” He took a seat, watching him from where he was sat.   
“So, word is that you’re a monster hunter, right?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. “I’ve been looking for somebody new.”  
“I am, yeah!” Johnsey nodded, grinning nervously. “Been hunting for ages.”   
“Good to hear.” Edward purred, narrowing his eyes. “Now, onto what I’d like you to do.” Johnsey watched him closely as he reached over to the coffee table and ran a little bell sat there.   
“So,” He began, listening as the servant outside of the door walked off. “I’d like you to train under my current handler, to take care of my collection.”  
“Really?” Johnsey raised his eyebrows, shifting nervously in his seat. “That’s.”

He paused, furrowing his eyebrows.  
“Why me?” He asked rather softly, and Edward laughed.  
“You’re young, and it’ll be easy to teach you what you need to know.” He said simply, and Johnsey nodded, crossing his arms. “I’m having my current handler come in now, so you can talk to him about all of this. You don’t have to make a decision now.”   
“Okay.” He nodded again, furrowing his eyebrows. It was all a lot to take in, honestly. Although, he didn’t really have time to consider it, as there was a knock on the door, and Edward called for the person to come in. He watched quite nervously as the door opened, and a tall man with a kind face walked inside. He was dark-skinned, and his mousey brown hair had streaks of grey in it, and his beard was braided.  
“You called?” He asked, voice smooth and soft like leather. He raised his eyebrows as he spotted Johnsey, walking further into the room.  
“I did, Daniel.” Edward hummed, gesturing for him to sit down too. “I want you to talk to our friend here, maybe introduce him to my collection?”

Johnsey watched him walk across the room. He was wearing a long coat, with thick, leather working gloves, and regarded him with a kind smile, reaching out to shake his hand.  
“Of course, Edward.” He hummed. Johnsey took his hand carefully, shaking it. His grip was firm, and he smelt of cedar and woodsmoke. “What’s your name, kid?”   
“Johnsey.” He replied simply, returning his hands to his lap. “It’s very nice to meet you.” David laughed politely, glancing to Edward, who smiled.  
“On you two go, then.” He smiled, waving them off. “He can borrow some of the spare gear if he needs it.”

Daniel stood up from the armchair again, beckoning for Johnsey to follow.  
“We’ll be off, then.” He hummed, and Edward grinned, nodding. He followed nervously, looking around as he was taken out of the drawing room and further into the house. Their footsteps were loud against the wooden floor of the house, and as they came to a flight of stairs, Daniel began to descend, and he followed quickly. The further down they went, the more apparent it was that there were a lot of creatures in the basement. A lot of noises were coming from down there, but he wasn’t scared. Daniel seemed quite at ease as well, just calling out to say they were coming down. 

“How many creatures are down there?” He asked softly, as they got to the bottom of the stairs. At the bottom was a small room, with a workbench with a few boxes of what he assumed was gear underneath, and a couple of countertops to the side, with a fridge and a cabinet underneath them, that looked like they were for preparing food. Johnsey stood to the side as he searched around in one of the boxes, and drew back, handing him a pair of gloves.  
“Oh, quite a few.” He hummed, watching as the shorter of the two slid the gloves on and wiggled his fingers. “We've got four down there I think, Edward has one he keeps in a cage in his room, but I have my favourites, though.” Daniel chuckled, and Johnsey raised his eyebrows, watching as he unlocked the door into the rest of the floor, and stepped out. There were cages lining the walls of the room, but most of the creatures were asleep or weren’t paying the two of them any attention.   
“A couple o’ them will need feeding, but you can meet them all first.” He hummed, beginning to walk down the corridor. Johnsey paused by the first cage, peering inside to see if whoever was in there was awake. Daniel paused as well, just watching.  
“In there is Will.” He told him, gently hitting his ring of keys against the bars of the cage to spur the monster into reacting. Inside the cage was quite a large wooden box with a hole in the front, and he could see deep scratch marks in the soft wood.   
“You’ve named them?” Johnsey asked incredulously, and he hummed.  
“Sometimes, but sometimes they'll name themselves.” He stated simply, and Johnsey watched as unlocked the door, and pushed it open. Daniel beckoned for him to follow as he walked inside, crouching down beside the wooden box, and reaching his hand through the small hole in the front.   
"Come on Will, come out." He hummed, furrowing his eyebrows as whoever Will was growled at him.  
"Are they safe?" Johnsey asked, eyeing the box nervously, and Daniel chuckled, shaking his head as he finally got a good enough grip on them and pulled them out.   
"Nothing down here is really all that safe." He hummed, keeping a firm grip on the back of their neck as they struggled. All six of their eyes were trained on Johnsey, who sort of nervously looked to Daniel.   
"Hello?" He gave them a little wave, and they just bared their teeth, which made the other man laugh, gently loosening his grip on the back of their neck.  
"Now, you're gonna be nice to him." He told Will, who just looked back at him.  
"You woke me up for this?" They snapped, ruffling their wings and glaring up at him. Daniel just laughed, glancing at Johnsey as well.  
"I thought it was important." He chided, letting them rearrange themselves into a more comfortable position. "He'll be working here soon."  
"Right." They narrowed all of their eyes at Johnsey, but didn't make any move to attack him.   
"We'll probably use them for demonstrations, because they're the least likely to bite your hands off." He chuckled, and they just sighed through their teeth and flattened their ears. "But we'll leave that for some other time."

Daniel beckoned him a little closer, gently gripping Will by the back of the neck again so they wouldn't try anything funny, and he hesitantly crouched down.   
"So, Will is quite an odd one because their species actually isn't supposed to do any of this at the same time." He hummed, gesturing to their wings and their horns. "But they've done it, somehow."  
"Impressive." Johnsey murmured, staying a safe distance away. "How?"  
"Well, we don't really know." He said, quite simply. "They say their halo was broken, but from what we know about their species, that should've just killed them."

Will made an attempt to push Daniel away with their wings, narrowing their eyes. He just moved them slightly further away from him, not prepared to lose his grip on their neck.   
"I think they're just about done with being talked about, now." He hummed, looking to Johnsey. "We'll move on."  
"Finally." Will snapped, and he just huffed a laugh, letting go of their neck and giving them a little shove in the direction of their box.   
"Go back to sleep, grumpy." Daniel hummed as he got up, watching them to make sure they didn't try and get out, and fishing a scrap of something out of his pack to throw at them. "I'll sort out proper food in a moment."

They caught it and didn't reply, too caught up with eating, and Daniel locked the cage up, before moving along. In the next cage along, it was lit quite brightly, but he couldn't see anyone inside. It had a wooden crate inside, with the opening facing the back of the cage.   
"So, in here is Penny, but she's really new and she's been hiding for a little while, so we won't bother her." Daniel explained, and Johnsey nodded, looking through the bars to try and see her. He could see the very tip of a ginger tail hanging out of the crate in the corner, but that was all. 

"Do you do anything with these guys or do you just keep them down here?" He asked Daniel, looking over to him.   
“The nicer ones sometimes come out during parties if Edward feels like it.” He explained, walking to the next cage over. “Although, that’s generally reserved for more - _distinguished_ guests, if you catch my drift.”

He furrowed his eyebrows, evidently not catching any drifts, and watched as Daniel hummed, looking into the cages that was pretty much pitch black.   
“Who’s in there?” Johnsey asked, almost nervously, and Daniel chuckled, gently knocking a fist against the bars of the cage. “Come on out.”  
“No.” They snapped back, and Johnsey heard something drag across the floor inside the darkness of the cage. “Stay out there.” Daniel sighed, glancing to Johnsey with a smile on his face. He unlocked the cage door, sliding inside. He watched him walk to the back of the cage, pausing, and reaching down to pick something up. They complained loudly as Daniel hoisted them up, but didn't struggle, just lying docile in his arms as he carried them out.   
"This here is Olivia." He told Johnsey, holding onto them firmly, and he looked them over. They were quite big, with large, furred animal legs and a lion's tail, swishing in annoyance. Their ears were flat against their head, pretty much the same colour as their hair.   
"Hello." Johnsey said nervously, and they looked up at him, watching him cautiously before baring their teeth and trying to wriggle away.   
"Be nice." Daniel told them, but still he carried them back inside, putting them down on top of the crate in there. 

The last occupied cage was at the very end of the corridor, and like the last one, was dimly lit. Not so much that he couldn’t see inside, though, and he could see this one was rather similar to how Will’s cage had been set out, with a much larger box in the corner, the entrance facing away from the cell door.  
“Remember when I said I had favourites?” Daniel whispered, unlocking the door to the cage. He reached into the small pack strapped to his thigh and drew out a scrap of meat, tossing it inside where it hit the ground with a thud. Whoever was in there slid out of the box, eyes glinting in the dim light, and reached out for the meat, popping it in their mouth and straightening up.  
“Daniel.” Whoever it was regarded him, shifting her gaze to Johnsey, and grinning. There was something terribly off about her, but he wasn’t sure what exactly it was. It could have been anything from her odd, animalistic legs, one seemingly a prosthetic, or her three eyes, two on the left and the other on the right.  
“Lillith.” He replied, in a much kinder tone of voice than he’d used for the others. “How are you feeling?”  
“Who’s he?” She interjected, jerking her head in Johnsey’s direction, and he waved nervously.  
“He’s the new guy.” He gently urged him forward, and he stopped just short of the entrance to the cage. “His name’s Johnsey.”  
“Johnsey.” She repeated, nodding, before holding out her hand. He nervously shook it, and she grinned. “Oh, Edward’s gonna love you.”

He looked a little panicked, glancing back at Daniel, to which she just laughed and let him go.   
“What’s going on tonight?” She asked Daniel, retreating back inside her cage to sit on top of the box, and letting Johnsey back out rather quickly.  
“Nothing much, Edward's going out, so I was thinking about letting Johnsey get used to all his jobs.” Daniel explained, gently patting him on the shoulder. "Edward says we've got someone new coming in at some point, too." 

Johnsey wandered off as he talked, curiously looking into Penny's cage to see if she had moved. Sure enough, she was very slightly leaning out of the crate, one eye visible from where he was standing. He didn't make a big deal of it, looking elsewhere in her cage to make it look like he hadn't seen her, and soon enough she shuffled out a little further, enough for her to see the cute little cat ears perched on top of her head. He kept his eyes away from her, but it looked like that was all she was going to do today.   
Soon enough, Daniel joined him again after locking the cage back up.  
"So, I was thinking we could go through how they're fed, and then you can go get yourself comfortable in one of the spare rooms?" He said, and Johnsey nodded, smiling politely.   
"That would be cool, yeah." He said, following Daniel as he walked back to the little room.  
"Everyone we've got right now gets fed on a meat diet, but Olivia can't have it raw because it makes their stomach upset." Daniel began to explain, reaching underneath one of the countertops to open the fridge. "So we get the cooks to cook their food for them at the start of the week." Johnsey nodded as he listened, standing to the side and watching as Daniel slid his working gloves off and took a tub out of the fridge.   
"Could you get me some bowls from the cabinet?" He asked, and Johnsey nodded, sliding around him to get to the cabinet.   
"Like, to feed them from?" He asked, and Daniel hummed, nodding.   
"There should be some metal bowls in there." 

He did find what he'd been asked for, and carefully took out four metal bowls, setting them on a pile on the counter for Daniel, who smiled.   
"Thank you, Johnsey." He hummed, stepping to the side slightly to let him watch what he was doing. "I take everything out of the freezer for the evening meals in the morning, and I'll put everything for tomorrow morning out to thaw soon, so you don't have to worry about that." He explained, taking the lid off of the tub and setting it to the side. He took out quite a large piece of meat, it looked like beef or something, and began to cut it into smaller chunks. Once it was in small pieces, he scraped the chunks into one of the bowls, and handed it to Johnsey.  
"That's for Olivia." He told him, and he nodded, taking it and sliding past him again.  
"Should I go and give it to them?" He asked, and Daniel nodded.   
"Yeah, just slide it through the bars. I'll let you make Penny's food when you get back." He told him, and Johnsey headed back into the room with the cages, walking down to the end where Olivia was sitting expectantly against the bars. He eyed them nervously, setting the bowl down. He was quite worried they’d try and bite him, and he was proved right when he slid the bowl inside the cage and they lunged for him, trying to clamp their teeth into the thick leather of the glove. He jerked back quickly, furrowing his eyebrows, and watched as they dragged the bowl away, back to their crate to eat. Straightening back up, he watched them for a little longer, before hurrying back to the room. Daniel looked up as he came back in, raising his eyebrows.  
“Did they give you trouble?” He asked, and Johnsey laughed, nodding and looking over at him.  
“Yeah, they tried to bite me.” He said, and Daniel shook his head,   
“They’re a nasty little beast when they’re hungry.” He hummed, stepping to the side to let Johnsey see what he was doing. “What I’m doing here is making Will’s food.” He explained, and Johnsey watched as he rolled ground beef into a few little balls, and pressed a piece of a pill into each of them.  
“Are they on medication?” He asked, and Daniel nodded, gently placing the meat into one of the spare bowls when it was rolled up.  
“Yeah, just to keep them calm.” He told him, sliding the bowl off to the side. “I have to hand feed them though, or else they’ll pick out the pill.” 

“Do you want to do Penny’s?” He asked, and Johnsey nodded, walking over to stand next to him.  
“Yeah, sure?” He nodded, watching him curiously, and taking off his gloves to set them down.   
“I’ve got to hand feed her too, because otherwise she won’t eat.” Daniel explained, getting a little tub of raw meat out of the fridge.   
“So you just cut it into small pieces, and you make sure to leave out the bone because she really doesn’t like it.” He told him, and Johnsey nodded, picking up the knife Daniel had been using, and starting to slice up the meat, making sure to cut around the bone, before tipping them into the bowl.  
“Very nice.” He nodded, smiling, and Johnsey grinned back, picking the bowl up. “If you want to go sit down I’ll get her out so you can feed her.”   
“Okay.” He followed Daniel out, sitting himself down on the floor and watching as he walked out to the cages, unlocking the one Penny was in, and walking inside. He heard her struggling, growling at Daniel as he scooped her up, and carried her out. Now she was actually held, she didn’t look too upset, looking at Johnsey curiously as she was carried over. Her tail was curled around Daniel’s arm, and she was wearing a soft woolen sweater.   
“Hello.” Johnsey smiled, watching as Daniel gently handed her over. Penny looked down at him, shifting in his lap, and eventually leaning against his chest.  
“Hello.” She mumbled back, and he left the two of them to it, walking away. Johnsey gently held her, holding up one of the pieces of meat, and she leaned forward to take it from him, being careful to avoid his fingers. He watched her, raising his eyebrows at how polite she was being, and giving her another once she was finished.  
“Good girl.” He hummed, and he heard her begin to purr, quietly in the back of her throat. She very gently began to knead the flesh of his thighs through his trousers as he fed her, gradually relaxing into him.

Once the bowl was empty, he just held her for a little bit, looking over at where Daniel was, feeding Will their medication. Penny had tucked her head up against his chin, purring quietly as she just lay there. 

Eventually, Daniel did finish coercing Will into taking their medication, and came back over to Johnsey after he'd locked their cage back up. He smiled at the two of them, gesturing to Penny's cage.   
"Do you want to go and put her back?" He asked, and Johnsey nodded, scooping her up gently and standing. She dug her claws in without meaning to and he hissed in pain, immediately apologising when she visibly flinched away from the sound.   
"It's okay, good girl" He soothed, carrying her over carefully and walking into the cage. He set her down once he was a little way inside, not wanting to disturb her safe space, and she looked up at him and smiled, before trotting back over to her crate and sliding inside. He watched for a couple more moments, before stepping out and closing the door carefully behind him. Daniel watched, humming quietly and smiling once Johnsey turned to look at him.   
“That’s it, for now, well done.” He told him, waving a hand as he spoke. “Edward says we’ll be having someone new in tomorrow, so I’ll wake you up before that so we can get ready before then.”  
“Okay.” Johnsey nodded, stepping away from the cage, and walking back over to where Daniel was, who headed towards the small room.

“I’m sure one of the servants has gotten your room ready by now.” He hummed as they went back into the little room at the other end of the corridor. “You can keep the gloves, too.”  
“Oh, alright.” He nodded. “Thank you.”  
“How did you find that, anyway?” Daniel asked him as they began to ascend the stairs.  
“Are they always like that?” He asked, furrowing his eyebrows. The other man laughed, glancing back at him.  
“Olivia is always kind of like that.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “They don't really like me or Edward.”

He just nodded, furrowing his eyebrows. When they reached the top of the stairs, the servant from before was waiting for them, smiling politely at the two of them.  
“Edward has assigned you a room, if you would like to stay the night.” She told Johnsey, and he nodded.  
“Yeah, I’ll stay.” He offered her a nervous smile, and she nodded curtly, beginning to lead the way. He hurried along, looking around while they were walking to try and get a better gauge on the place. She walked briskly throughout the corridors, eventually stopping by a door, and pulling a key out of her pocket. Unlocking the door, she pushed it open and stood aside to let him in.  
“You can go back to get all your clothes tomorrow.” She smiled, although her heart wasn’t really in it.  
“Thank you.” He stepped inside, looking around. The servant turned on her heel and left, taking the key with her. He glanced back at the door as it slammed shut, before just shrugging off his jacket and letting it fall to the floor. Today had just been all over the place. Johnsey just about got around to kicking off his shoes when he collapsed onto the bed and passed out. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw for r*pe, implied but not shown explicitly (it never will be shown explicitly or explored in depth, but its important to know that edward is a truly terrible person)

He woke up to a knocking at the door, and groggily raised his head from his pillow, rubbing sleep for his eyes.  
“Johnsey?” Daniel’s voice came from the other side of the door, and he mumbled something under his breath before replying.  
“What is it?” He asked, getting up from the bed and walking to get his shoes on.  
“Edward wants a hand with one of the animals.” He told him, not opening the door. “Could you come with me?”  
“Oh, yeah, hang on.” Johnsey called, shrugging on his coat. He hurried over to the door, sliding out of it, and looking over at Daniel, who smiled tiredly.  
“Edward says that Wilbur bit him, so he’s coming back down to the basement for now, and we’ve got someone new coming in, so we’ve got quite a bit to do today.” He explained, beginning to lead Johnsey.

When they got to Edward’s room, Daniel knocked, and Edward quickly let them in. He was in a silk bathrobe, and his hand was bleeding quite badly.   
“I can’t get him back in the cage.” He said, quite strained from the pain of his bite wound, and Daniel sighed, furrowing his eyebrows and stepping past Edward and into the room.   
“Johnsey, can you stand by the cage?” He asked, and Johnsey nodded, sliding inside as well, and hurrying over to the cage. He crouched down, watching Daniel as he reached under the bed, hearing whoever Wilbur was yelling loudly as he was grabbed, Daniel dragging him out into the room and pretty much carrying him over to the cage by his arm. He was quite small and his stomach was soft, and he was almost naked, his sweater bunched up and his boxers sliding down. He looked well cared for, but it was quite obvious what Edward had been trying to do to him. What was strange was that he looked almost entirely human, the only thing off about him was his bright purple eyes, and the amount of damage he’d been able to do to Edward’s arm. Daniel bundled him in a blanket from the bed, ignoring his attempts to claw at his arm, letting out panicked little noises.  
“Please, please don’t put me in the cage I’m sorry.” He whimpered, trying to curl away from it as Daniel wrapped him up tightly, holding him against his chest.   
“Are you going to behave?” He asked, and Wilbur whined quietly into the blanket, leaning against Daniel.  
“Take me away from him.” He pleaded, looking over at Johnsey nervously, who was stood there with his eyebrows furrowed.  
“From Johnsey?” He asked, following where he was looking, and he shook his head, clinging to Daniel’s chest.  
“Edward.” He said, and Daniel nodded, gently carrying him over to the door.  
“Come on, Johnsey.” He hummed, and he nodded, hurrying over. Edward stood against the doorframe, looking at the three of them with narrowed eyes as they passed. Wilbur was crying quietly into Daniel’s shirt, looking a lot more relieved as they got further away. They got down into the basement quite quickly, Will looking up from where they were curled up on their blanket at their sudden entrance.

“Here you go, you’re alright.” Daniel murmured to Wilbur as he gently set him down in one of the darker empty cages. “We’ll keep you down here.” Wilbur just made a non-commital noise and turned away as he began to cry again, his shoulders hunching up.  
“Let me sort everything else out, and I’ll get you some food.” He assured him, standing up and watching as he awkwardly shuffled his way towards the crate at the very back of the cage. Johnsey watched awkwardly from the doorway of the small room, furrowing his eyebrows as Daniel came back over.  
“What’d Edward do to him?” He asked quietly, and Daniel shook his head.   
“I don’t like to think about it.” He told him, slipping past him and into the room. “Wilbur’s going to stay down here for a while, so I’ll need to sort out people food for him. I’ll probably let Will spend some time with him, they get along quite well.”  
“Should we make sure the cage is ready for the new one?” Johnsey suggested, and Daniel smiled, nodding.  
“Yeah, yeah, we’ll do that first.” He hummed, crouching down to one of the chests and opening it, rummaging around before pulling out a soft fleece blanket. Johnsey stood off to the side while he stepped out, beckoning for him to follow.   
"I'll show you how I do it." He told him, and Johnsey followed him out, looking around the cages curiously. Will was pawing at Wilbur's hand through the bars of the cage, whining quietly at him to try and get a response, but he just lay there limply, still crying into the blanket he'd been wrapped in.   
"Is he alright?" Johnsey asked quietly, and Daniel shook his head.   
"Nah, he's probably not." He said, shaking his head, and Johnsey hummed, looking over at him again, before continuing to follow Daniel over to one of the empty cages.   
"What I usually do is give them a water dish and a crate with a blanket in it, and then add onto that when I know the animal a bit better." He explained, folding the blanket up and sliding it into the crate. Now he was nearer he could see just how large the crates really were, big enough for a pretty tall person to comfortably curl up.   
"What do you know about the other ones?" He asked, watching as Daniel got up from where he was kneeling to hurry back to the room. He heard the clatter of bowls,and the sound of a tap running, before he came back with a full water bowl. He grinned at Johnsey, raising his eyebrows.   
"Well, Will likes to rip their blankets up and make them into a nice little nest, and Wilbur only sleeps right if you wrap him up like i did when we were bringing him down." He hummed, as he set the bowl down towards the front of the cage. "Olivia likes it really dark, and Lillith needs something to scratch on to keep her claws down, or else she might cut herself with them."  
"What about Penny?" He asked, taking the initiative to help out when Daniel started to gather up the other's water bowls.   
"She's not been here for that long, but I know she prefers it when she's got a little privacy." He hummed, holding the door to the little room open for Johnsey to step inside, and following after. "It's why her crate's facing the back wall."

"Yeah, that makes sense." He nodded, setting the empty bowls he'd collected by the sink for Daniel. "Are we going to feed them?"   
"I think we should." He nodded, beginning to fill the bowls with water again. "They get pretty much the same thing in the mornings, I've already portioned it out if you want to take it out the fridge and give it to them?"   
"I can do that." He smiled, crouching down quickly to get the tubs out of the fridge. In each was quite a bit more meat than they had for dinner, and each tub was labelled, so he took two of them and set about bringing them out. Everyone except Penny and obviously Wilbur had seen them come down and expectantly shoved their bowl to the front of the cage, which made it pretty easy to just tip their food into it. 

For Penny, he had to gently knock on the cage bars and call her name a couple times, before she slid out, looking up at him curiously. He held out a piece of meat, and she eyed it, before gently taking it from his hand, chewing quickly, and looking up at him expectantly for another piece.   
“Can you bring your bowl over?” He asked, raising his eyebrows, and she nodded, skittering towards the back of the cage and pushing it over. He tipped the tub out for her, and she grinned up at him, dragging the bowl back with her.   
"Thank you!" She called back, and he smiled, watching her go, before nodding, and heading back to the room. Daniel was waiting for him, sat on the countertop, and he smiled when he came back in.  
“Edward says they’ll be here with the new one pretty soon, so we just need to wait ‘til then.” He told him, and Johnsey nodded, coming to sit next to him.  
“Why do you work for Edward if he does things like that?” He asked quietly, and Daniel shrugged, looking over at him.   
“I can’t just leave these guys down here.” He told him, looking out at the cages through the little window in the room. “I wouldn’t want to leave them without anyone to take care of them.” Johnsey nodded, looking down at the floor as he kicked his feet.  
“I don’t like it.” He admitted, mumbling slightly. “I’m worried he’ll try and do something with me.” Daniel hummed, furrowing his eyebrows, and gently patting him on the shoulder.  
“It’s alright.” He promised. “While I’m here, he’s not going to hurt you.” 

Johnsey nodded, and they sat in silence for a while, just until there was a commotion from upstairs, and Edward yelled down the stairs for Daniel. He jumped up, hurrying over and beckoning for Johnsey to follow. He climbed the stairs as quickly as he could, and they came out into the main hall of the house. Edward was dragging a crate over, and whatever was inside was trying its very hardest to break out.   
“He’s really upset.” Edward hissed, furrowing his eyebrows, and looking down at the crate. “They said his name was Cody, and that he’s a nasty slut, but I wasn’t expecting him to be that bad.”  
“It’s alright.” Daniel assured him, looking down at the crate, before moving to pick it up. He huffed at the effort, but still managed to carry it towards the stairs. Johnsey waited for him to go down, and get to the bottom, before following quickly, not wanting to be alone with Edward. 

When he got downstairs, Daniel had carried the crate over to the cage, and was trying to coax the creature out.  
“Come on, you’re alright.” He assured him, gently patting on the top of the cage. “We’re not going to hurt you.” He heard the animal whine desperately, and Daniel sighed.  
“I don’t want to have to tip you out.” He said, and Johnsey walked over curiously.  
“Don’t.” Cody whimpered, and he heard his claws scrabble on the wood of the crate as Daniel lifted it up, tilting it forward. He slid out, and he quickly shut the door on him. Cody was big - he was very big. His legs, splayed out awkwardly below him, were furred and animal-like, the outsides covered in what looked like scales. He was wearing a dirty sweater, and he’d quite clearly been biting at his wrist in his panic, the blood staining the fabric. Daniel saw it too, furrowing his eyebrows.  
“Do you want me to bandage that?” He asked, settling down to Cody’s height, and he watched him nervously, his tail bushed out as Daniel reached a gloved hand through the bars of the cage. He eyed his hand, before very cautiously holding his hand out, letting Daniel slide his sleeve up, and he fumbled in his pockets for a moment, before taking out a roll of bandages. The wounds didn’t look too deep, but he still flattened his ears against his head in pain as his injuries were bandaged up. He tucked the end of the bandage underneath itself, and let him draw his hand back.   
“Is that alright?” He asked quietly, and Cody nodded, looking up at both of them nervously, before sliding back to the crate in the back of the cage.   
“Good boy.” He nodded, watching him, before glancing over at Johnsey. “That’s about all we’re doing with that, I think. Best let him settle in for a moment.”  
“Alright.” He hummed, shoving his hands into his pockets, before turning to walk over to Penny’s cage. She was looking out of the cage at the three of them, her ears pitched forward.   
“If you want, we can take her out and head out to the garden.” He hummed, and she looked up hopefully, making Daniel chuckle.   
“Oh, yeah.” Johnsey nodded, looking over at her, before laughing as well. Daniel walked over, unlocking the cage and letting her come out, and smiling up at him.   
“Alright, come here.” He told her, taking a harness off of the hook by the door of the cage. She stepped over to him, holding her arms out so he could slip it on. “It’s just so they don’t run away.” He explained to Johnsey, who nodded, walking over to the two of them.   
"I'm not going to!" She objected, looking up at Daniel, but he just chucked and handed her leash to Johnsey.

When they got out into the garden, which was really quite big, it looked like it would take about twenty minutes to walk around the perimeter, Penny pulled at the leash slightly as she ran forward, and Johnsey followed, keeping pace with her so she could have some exercise. Daniel laughed, keeping by the door and watching. She kept going until they reached the end of the patio, and she could throw herself down on the soft grass, rolling over and laughing. Her face was flushed slightly from the excitement, and she looked up and Johnsey and grinned, tugging on the leash to try and get him to join her. 

"You want me to come lie down?" He asked, and she nodded, patting the spot next to her eagerly. Johnsey smiled, looking back at Daniel, who nodded, before heading over to her. The grass tickled his face as he lay down, and it made him scrunch up his nose slightly, which made Penny laugh. She narrowed her eyes in amusement at him, reaching over to gently pat his forehead.   
"You're funny." She told him, and he smiled, raising his eyebrows.   
"Well, I think you're quite funny too." He replied, and she grinned, her arm falling back down onto the ground. 

"I'm going to head back and make sure everyone's alright." Daniel called over to them, and Johnsey held his hand up, making a thumbs up gesture at him.   
"We'll come back in when we're done." He yelled back, and Penny nodded.   
"We're not done yet!" She added, and Daniel laughed lightly, turning to walk back towards the house.


End file.
